Linio, a Mexico-based e-commerce company focused on the Latin American market, has raised $79m from conglomerate Access Industries and venture capital firm Northgate Capital, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Formed in 2012, Linio emerged from European internet incubator Rocket Internet and sells a wide range of products through a marketplace similar to Amazon’s. Although it is yet to penetrate every Latin American market, it claims to be the leading e-commerce site in Mexico.
Linio has now raised about $175m, closing a $50m round in November from Tengelmann Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of retail chain Tengelmann, Rocket Internet, investment firm Kinnevik, investment bank JP Morgan Chase, and venture capital firms Latin Idea Ventures and Summit Partners.
The company intends to use the funding to expand geographically, and plans to enter Chile among other significant new markets in the region.
“We are right now in the process of opening up Central America via our hub in Panama,” Linio managing director Andreas Mjelde told TechCrunch. “We see all of Spanish Lat-Am as our natural markets and plan to continue the expansion quickly.”